Originally Posted by Malysh

Jon, does this gun have a flat latch cylinder release on the left side? If the gun was made in 1966 or before, it will have the older flat latch style of J frame cylinder release. There were some that left the factory in 1968 which still had the diamond checkered taller Bodyguard high horn grips but that was the approximate time with they were replaced with the standard shorter checkered grips which became J frame standards after that. You won't find the flat latch on one as late as 1968. Even Centennials made from 1968 to 1974 with the "L" prefix serial numbers were made only with smooth standard "low" horn grips.

HTH